I was shivering in anticipation of Scintillator, but a quickie helped me come out of the cold!
ACROSS
1 Birds talk wildly to Poles (6) RAVENS (RAVE N S)
9 Sharp ache a knife caused? (5) PANGA (PANG A)
As they say in the north, "Mujh se panga mat le!"
As they say in the north, "Mujh se panga mat le!"
10 Longing for familiar things aroused at closing (9) NOSTALGIC (AT CLOSING)
11 Eat dinner and donut, returning to work (4) OPUS (SUP O=donut)<
12 Studies scams (4) CONS 2
when traveling abroad and then tries to apply scalability to it
when traveling abroad and then tries to apply scalability to it
13 A hereditary unit used for bleaching flour (5) AGENE (A GENE)
15 Cut short what a dog wags? (7) CURTAIL (CUR TAIL)
16 Nymph reflected sound (4) ECHO 2
19 Endless summer recalled in Norse poetry (4) EDDA (ADDEr<)
20 Madiba exchanges notes to get a meditation device (7) MANDALA (Madiba=MANDELA-E+A)
23 Oriental in hide sees flight of wild geese (5) SKEIN (E in SKIN)
24 Jack cried out in the middle of a church (4) NAVE (~KNAVE)
25 Mixed-up mail ended up in Peru (4) LIMA (MAIL*)
27 Amino acid excess followed by nitrogen compound (9) GLUTAMINE (GLUT AMINE)
28 Part order declared (5) PIECE (~PEACE)
29 Somehow argues very loudly for right to vote (8) SUFFRAGE (ARGUES FF)*
Sorry to be sombre, but cartoons need not always convey humour, they can convey a feeling of weltschmerz and angst too
Sorry to be sombre, but cartoons need not always convey humour, they can convey a feeling of weltschmerz and angst too
30 Blanches tennis outfits (6) WHITES 2
DOWN
1 Upbraid bug following salesman (8) REPROACH (REP ROACH)
I wonder what Hal Roach would say
I wonder what Hal Roach would say
2 Vehicle sentry in front (8) VANGUARD (VAN GUARD)
3 Indian bread Anna baked (4) NAAN (ANNA*)
5 Box office flop like the Titanic? (8,5) DISASTER MOVIE CD,DD
The frequency of usage of the word "Disaster" seems to have gone up in 2014. What is dis aster?
The frequency of usage of the word "Disaster" seems to have gone up in 2014. What is dis aster?
6 Close to a bunch of bananas, within reach (4,2,4) NEAR AT HAND
Banaaana, mujh ko log kahe! Main samjhoo jag hai banaana ..
Banaaana, mujh ko log kahe! Main samjhoo jag hai banaana ..
7 Fished in area with corners (6) ANGLED 2
8 Cheers confused woodcut artist (6) ESCHER (CHEERS*)
10 Watercolour perhaps, not so good looking! (2,3,8) NO OIL PAINTING 2
14 Plant climbed by Rapunzel’s lover? (10) MAIDENHAIR CD
17 Clear cargo list (8) MANIFEST 2
18 Marine mammals confused men at sea (8) MANATEES (MEN AT SEA)*
Lots of those men at sea had thought they were mermaids!
Lots of those men at sea had thought they were mermaids!
21 Traditions America matures (6) USAGES (US AGES)
22 Check polish again (6) REBUFF (RE BUFF)
26 Expression of disgust follows old fish (4) OPAH (O PAH)
I am sure a lot of you have heard of Opah Fish-fry
I am sure a lot of you have heard of Opah Fish-fry
6D should be NEAR AT HAND
ReplyDeleteThanks. Transcription error corrected.
DeleteNever knew that each tier in a bunch or cluster of bananas is known as 'hands'
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of collective nouns for bananas: bunch, cluster, comb, hand
DeleteGive me a hand!
ReplyDeletePay an arm and a leg.
DeleteIt will be interesting to list phrases/words connoting other meanings involving body parts.
It will take up a lot of space and deflect from the main intent of this blog.
DeleteAny reaction may be appreciated if it's spontaneous and quite in context.
You have asked for phrases/idioms not just of hand but other body parts! (I haven't consciously given a thought to how many parts a body has and what they are). I am not cocksure.
As a postscript I might add that after I entered "Give me a hand" and before I saw your suggestion, I thought to myself how many phrases are there in Tamil using the word kai (hand). After listing some of them mentally, I looked up 'kai' in "Tharkaala-th thamizh marabuththodar agaraadhi" and found quite a long list. Neengalum oru kai paarungal (which alas is NOT in that dict.)
DeleteGive me a hand means "kai kudu"? Which is what some partymen have been doing to the people over the past several years.
DeleteImpossible to solve this one without google. Panga, edda, agene, opah.
ReplyDeleteEdda I had come across recently in another cwd. Others I had to confirm via Google
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIs the clue framed correctly?
Delete15 Cut short what a dog wags? (7) CURTAIL (CUR TAIL)
Dog: CUR and Wags:? Going by the clue the answer would be just TAIL. To get CUR in you’d need another ‘dog’ in the clue!
It could have been: 15 Cut short dog’s appendage (7) CURTAIL (CUR TAIL
Raghu. What a dog wags is a cur tail.
DeleteWhat a dog wags is TAIL and not DOG's TAIL.
DeleteGoing by what you say the ans is CUR'S TAIL
DeleteI think in cryptic reading cur tail is fine without the apostrophe s, much like flowers, runners etc.
DeleteI forgot to add that the 's is fine when not part of the answer. Here it's a part of the answer.
DeleteHow is it a part of the answer? The def is cut short and the answer Curtail
DeleteWhat a dog wags = TAIL or CUR's TAIL (As per you)
DeleteYou can several types of tails. Like a monkey tail, a cat tail, maybe a human tail. Dog is used as an adjective to qualify tail, at least cryptically.
DeleteI meant the apostrophe is part of the answer.
DeleteOtherwise how would you justify flower and banker to mean river.
DeleteWhat would a dog with a curtailed tail wag?
DeleteAha!. Like a Boxer. It would wag the stub of the tail.
DeleteWill continue 'tail' talk in de"tail" later later.
DeleteLike say dog collar. You have dog tail
DeleteNow it's the tail wagging the dog!
DeleteAn advisory. After you delete a comment, do not put a comment as a reply under that, but put in a fresh comment, because If I, as admin, delete the original comment which was deleted by the author all the comments put under it as replies will also get deleted.
ReplyDeleteI realised it after I deleted the original comment.
DeleteAn advisory worth remembering by all.
DeleteI have a question for setters and solvers:
ReplyDeleteIn a deletion clue to remove ‘S’ from the word can we say ‘large’, ‘big’, ‘tall’ etc. (= not small), or is it unfair?
How can large, big, tall etc lead to deletion of 'S' ?
DeleteI do not think that would be a fair indicator
DeleteHow about unmarried to remove m?
DeletePlease permit me to comment on the clue
ReplyDelete15 Cut short what a dog wags? (7) CURTAIL (CUR TAIL)
and the Comments on it above.
This morning when I put in the answer to this clue in the Orkut community before I came here, I had exactly the same question in my mind as has been raised here.
Raghu's doubt whether the clue 'Cut short what a dog wags? (7)'
leads to CUR TAIL is valid. (How do we get 'cur'?)
His question (even conceding that 'cur' is understood) whether 'cur tail' can be accepted as good English when it should actually be 'cur's tail' cannot be dismissed cavalierly.
OTOH, Suresh's position that a clue merely expects a word/phrase to occur in the solver's mind w/o too much of exactitude cannot be dismissed.
It is all a question of the solver's attitude - whether he is a purist or a libertarian.
If you ask me, I am a purist. I am not sure that I would have been satisfied the current version of the clue.
I am not happy with the missing apostrophe in the answer, even conceding that cur is understood. If ithe clue ended with dog's tail and the def/ ans was TAIL (4) it's fine by me.
DeleteFrom what little I know of Suresh, he is probably least nitpicking of us all and his response wasn't surprising.
DeleteI was not talking of apostrophes at all. I was merely trying to equate dog tail to other cryptic words that are common like flow-er and bank-er. I do not remember if I have seen a similar usage in the Guardian, which is more libertarian than purist. But will look for it.
DeleteCan you reproduce the flower ckue to u/stand better?
DeleteYou will find several clues where the word flower (that which flows) is used to mean river or the name of a river. In fact, it is something we have got so used to that nobody comments about it. Banker ( one with banks) is also used though I have not seen this usage in THC.
DeleteIn both cases it is not English.
13 Like going inside an Indian market for a flower (9) MANDAKINI
Delete2 - Indian flower in a business try out (5) - INDUStry.
I'm with Suresh. It is a quirky way of referring to cur's tail. Not unlike how you say Federer serve to mean Federer's serve.
DeleteSuresh Garu regarding "Banker ( one with banks) is also used though I have not seen this usage in THC. In both cases it is not English." ,
DeleteIt was used in the same puzzle as the Mandakini one quoted above
29 Joseph emptied an animal’s back for banker (6) JHELUM
That is probably a cw did not solve. I found flower by using the search function
DeleteUnderstand Raghu's concern on the apostrophe, but wouldn't that mean 14D should be parsed as "maiden's hair" for correctness ? Personally, I am ok with parsing 15 to "cur tail"
Delete4a -Wow interesting clue. Simply bowlod over by the configuration-sloth refers to the species and not laziness.29a I could relish the pun rather wordplay in the cartoon. Very nice CW.
ReplyDeleteTell me if the surface reading of that clue is plausible. A garden patch consuming sloth?
ReplyDeleteWithout being curt, let's cut the Ta(l)ile short. I had the answer pat, immediately I saw the clue. What matters in a cryptic clue is how you get along with the answers so long as the neighbouring blocks are fitting in easily and correctly.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed today's Mover, though a few were odd and obscure words.
Samosa and chai day, for sure!
ReplyDeleteVery entertaining remarks pertaining to 'curtail'!!
20 Madiba exchanges notes to get a meditation device (7) MANDALA (Madiba=MANDELA-E+A)
ReplyDeleteWhat are the 'notes' here and how they are exchanged ? If E and A are the notes and they are to be exchanged, I felt, MANDELA would become MANDALE. Does exchange mean one of the 'notes'(don't know which one) is to be deleted ? I find there are three 'notes' (A,D,E) in MANDELA.
Notes in crossword parlance denote musical notes--ADE are all notations in the musical scale. The clue is very clear exchange-- so swap a, e a
ReplyDeleteThanks, Raju. :)
Delete